


Love Despite Protocol

by BlueLight333



Category: Men in Black (Movies)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 09:33:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5702830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueLight333/pseuds/BlueLight333





	1. The Dancer, The Agent and The Assassin

Natalie was by no means interested in staying behind after her dancing partners left to clean up, but the cruel law of the rota posted on the whiteboard condemned her to. Despite her 23 years she still found the half darkened dance studio eerie when she faced it alone. She decided to turn Swan Lake back on with the click of a small remote, the cheap sound system butchered the quality but it was good enough to hum to. She was not a purely logical woman, in fact she struggled concentrating on tasks that annoyed or bored her, so before starting she decided to do a quick solo rehearsal to the sounds emitting from the speaker. Her dark brown hair twirled as she spun in controlled circles, balancing precariously on one toe. To anyone else spinning that long would be impossible, but her toned body found the strain non-existent and her startling green eyes were accustomed to the blur.

But as she danced and twirled, swept into the depths of carelessness by the timeless music, an assassin lurked in the shadows of the dance hall. A fugitive of every land who could feel the law closing in, he had to get past her. His wrist bleeped and the device frantically alerted him of the law man making his approach, desperate, he tried to find a way to silently escape but the girl was in the way of his only way out…

The law man in question was indeed mere meters away. He had just entered the dance studio through it’s slightly worn, yellow front door. His long black coat swished as he took a leisurely pace inside. According to the studio’s website the studio was closed. His sharp, lightning blue eyes surveyed his surroundings and found no cause for alarm. However, his keen ears picked up the sounds of music, the man he was after had no interest in Tchaikovsky so that only left…

“Civilians, every damn time.” He said in his usual deep, heavy voice under his breath.

The man was very sharply dressed, the simple black suit fit his built torso perfectly, the classic black tie was flawlessly tied around his neck, the creases on his black trousers were razor sharp and his shoes were shined to an almost mirror-like surface. His coat however looked slightly more worn, a fine layer of fuzz, almost unnoticeably framed the long black garment. The man himself was just as sharp and well made as his suit, a well toned body was topped by a powerful jawline, defined cheekbones, a straight nose and well combed brown hair.

His stride was swift as he approached the sound. He saw a delicate, pink and white figure spinning and jumping in the middle of an empty room, bottomed by hardwood floors and one wall covered in mirrors. He walked over, hoping that the dancing figure would notice but she was clearly entranced by her activity. After a few seconds waiting he decided to switch off the device emitting the music. The figure stopped long enough for the man to identify it as a young woman in her early 20s when she screamed and jumped back.

“What are you doing here!? Get out!” She screamed taking shelter behind the impenetrable defence of a plastic chair.

“Now hold on miss, do you want me to tell you what I’m doing here or for me to get out?” Asked the man with a calm smile. Under normal circumstances Natalie would be flustered by such a man, his smile alone radiated confidence beyond belief, but at the moment she was just terrified.

“Uh… Both!” She yelled back, she tried her best to sound scary but only came off scared.

“Very well, special agent McGregor with the Federal Bureau of Investigation miss, just following a lead on a wanted fugitive. I’m just gonna look around and be on my way.” He said swiftly withdrawing a shinning brass badge from his coat pocket, Natalie got together enough bravery to come closer and inspect the badge, indeed it was an official looking badge set firmly in a black wallet, above it was an identification card, displaying the man’s photo, name, and FBI stamped in the middle in large blue font.

She backed off and looked him over once more.

“Where’s your gun?” She asked giving him a clear look of doubt.

“Forgot it in my service car, I’m sure I wont need it here though. Now I strongly suggest you step out and let me…- “Said the man but he trailed off and stared at the ceiling above the woman’s head.

“What? What is up there?” She said starting to look up at where the man’s blue eyes were fixed, but the answer came to her. The assassin jumped down from his escape route on the ceiling and grabbed the now panicked woman by the throat, he pressed a large, strange looking weapon to her temple and stared down the agent. The assassin’s face resembled that of a wolf, but pure black and with no fur, giving him the appearance of a hellhound. His eyes almost glowed a sickly yellow and his curved, rotting teeth were barred as he snarled at the man in the long coat.

“Back up asshole! Back up or she gets it!” He yelled in a voice that sounded like a mix of a bark, a growl and a low, threatening voice. The man in the coat did not even seem mildly unnerved by the display, he calmly placed the badge back into his coat and smiled.

“Oh come now, The Great Beast of Kunchari, the fear of every rich man in the galaxy with enemies, The Slaughterer of The 8 Immortal Sisters is stooping low enough to sneaking around dance halls and threatening unarmed human girls? My my how the titans have fallen.” Said the man taking a step forward.

“Shut up you suit; your fucking chase drove me to this! Take another step and she loses her head!” He continued. Finally, the man in the suit stopped smiling. The girl couldn’t tell what she was more afraid of, the creature holding her hostage, breathing rancid air down her neck, or the scowl that was now firmly set in the man’s handsome features. In a swift flurry of movement, the man slapped his wristwatch and slammed his right wrist into the bracelet, immediately the silver thing attached to his wrist and began to grow, clicking into place until he was holding a pistol like device that seemed too big to be able to fit into the watch. The creature flinched backwards and pressed the gun tighter into Natalie’s head.

“Jecksren The 2nd, you are charged with the murder of 30 of the 54 chancellors of Kunchari, the torture and execution of The 8 Immortal Sisters as well as 49 counts of executing ordered hits.” Said the man in the suit, his arm was firm as stone. The creature only snarled but even Natalie could hear the small whimper hiding behind the growl.

“You are also currently in violation of Article A of the Extra-Terrestrial Registration Act, Section C; lack of proper registration with local liaison of the Planetary Defence Agency, Article C, section J of the same act; lack of proper registration of class 9J weaponry. As well as Article 34 of the PDA legal code, assault and threatening of an unarmed civilian belonging to a class 5 species, I also personally charge you with being the most repulsive creature I have had the misfortune of seeing, how do you plea?” Asked the man, he rattled off the laws and articles as if they were nursery rhymes, not flinching, not even raising his voice. The creature let out one more half whimper, half growl of failing defiance.

“I’ll take that as guilty.” Said the man calmly and quickly pressed the trigger of his silver weapon and the room was filled with a bright, harsh light. When Natalie had managed to re-focus her eyes he saw that the man was calmly walking towards her, his gun lowered, she also noticed that the creature was now lying motionless beside her, it was slowly disintegrating into ash.

“That was… that…” Began Natalie but the man cut her off.

“One of the greatest assassins in the galaxy threatening you with an Drem Corp disintegrator? Mhm.” Said the man calmly pressing a button on his pistol and it collapsed back into a watch and crawled onto his left wrist.

“I wasn’t gonna…” She began again, slowly recovering from shock.

“Say that, yup, I know, I’m just a little tired of the disbelieving rambling and THEN my explanation, I decided to switch it up.” Said the man looking genuinely calm and almost bored, his hands were placed in his black trouser pockets.

“That was an alien? It can’t have been.” She said but the man smiled even wider.

“And why not? Do you not believe your senses? Do you suffer from hallucinations?” Asked the man, the girl was afraid of what she just saw him do but something about his voice and expression was so calming to her.

“Well I mean… It’s just there’s so much alien talk that we all just dismiss it as a hoax…” She began, the man in the coat let out a deep, hearty laugh, the girl couldn’t help but let out a small smile herself.

“Ah those whizzes in the PR department…” He said trailing off, clearly not focused on Natalie and her meltdown, this angered her.

“Hey! Explain! What PR department?” She asked tapping him rather harshly on the shoulder.

“The PR department that flooded your media with articles, recordings and witness statements of aliens. They gave you so much evidence you couldn’t tell the real from the fake, so naturally you did what humans do, you joked and poked fun until believing in aliens openly became the subject of ridicule. Hell just for laughs I think they sometimes give you lot a real video and watch you all not believe in it.” Said the man chuckling lightly, his laugh really was infectious, despite how confused she was she smiled too.

“But I’m a direct witness! I saw everything! I have alien ashes; I have a CCTV recording of this whole thing I’ll keep pushing until someone believes me.” She said defiantly, the agent smiled more, this drill never got old.

“OK, You’ll be called a nut job, the cameras shut down the second I walked in thanks to a handy gadget of mine, and those ashes are chemically identical to fire residue if anyone with the tech to analyse takes the time to listen to you.” Said the man with his hands still lodged in his pockets.

“And I should just take your word for that?” She asked, still not sure weather to be more scared or comforted by his presence.

“Perhaps not, but I could have killed you on the spot if I thought your testimony or evidence would endanger my organisation.” Said the agent stepping forward.

“Yeah… I guess you’re right.” She said hesitantly not sure weather to step back.

“I’m one of the thousands of agents keeping this entire galaxy safe from murderers, warlords, psychopaths and the like, we are all around you, we are just a few tables away when you eat lunch. Perhaps you’ve even asked one of us for the time at a bus stop, point is I represent an organisation far greater than you can imagine and I would have no problem taking measures if you caused us trouble.” Said the man smoothly gesturing with his hands.

“Than what would you have me do?” She asked looking into his startling blue eyes.

“Go home, sleep, wake up, do your daily routine, repeat. By the time you get back here tomorrow the ash will be gone and the only record of tonight will be in your head.” Said the man, with that he turned around and began walking to the exit, his long black coat waving behind him with each step.

“Can I at least have your name?” She yelled at his back, he stopped and smoothly turned.

“If I told you, I’d have to kill you.” He said with a wink, and finally he was gone. Natalie was left with a pounding heart and a pile of ash, this was the last she saw of the agent.

For now…


	2. The Priests of Kunchara

Natalie’s friends noticed that something was off. They asked and pried time after time but all they got was a shrug and the assurance that she was alright. Finally, after a week of Natalie refusing to speak for longer than 20 second bursts and staring off in deep thought they decided it was time to take her out.

She was of course reluctant, but every time she saw an empty room she got scared that the wolf-like creature would come for her again. So she figured a noisy crowded bar would do her some good.

The bar was intrusively loud, immediately Natalie spotted every breed of bar goer, the ones trying to drown their memories of a troubled past, the ones trying to make more memories and the ones seeking a night of companionship.

“Hey, look, there’s a table, let’s sit down!” Said Deb, she was the never-ending ball of energy and noise of the group, she would find a way to make a midterm exam into a party. Natalie followed with a dragging step, while the crowded and excited bar was doing her nerves good she still wasn’t enjoying herself, she vowed to get the strongest drink she could find. The group sat down and began to chat, Natalie would never admit it to her friends to spare herself from the smug looks but after her 3rd cranberry and vodka and what felt like the 4th funny story she started having a good time. Inevitably the conversation turned to who plans on spending the night alone or who plans on leaving the bar with a trophy. They began selecting their targets but Natalie was a pinch too nervous, finally her friend Sarah intervened.

“Hey, what about that one over there? Mr. Clean Cut, I was gonna try him myself but I think you could use a hunk like that yourself to get you out of this mood you’re always in.” She said pointing to a well built man at the bar. Natalie’s vision was slightly blurred from the alcohol and he was only half facing her but she liked what she saw. She figured why not? She could use a distraction.

“Alright, off I go.” She said mustering up all the courage she had, Sarah said a few encouragements and sent her on her way. As Natalie approached she noticed the man was talking to the female barmaid, she looked to be enjoying the man’s company, everything in the woman’s body language showed interest while all the man displayed was a sly, charming smile and a relaxed posture, he must have confidence coming out of his ears thought Natalie.

Natalie began feeling a sickening sense of familiarity as the man’s face came into better view, but her slightly tipsy brain waved it off.

“-… And it was at that point I realized that I should have definitely taken a left.” Said the man, the barmaid laughed. Natalie plopped down in the chair beside him and finally recognised him.

The suit, the long coat hanging off his chair, the neat hair, the startling blue eyes, how did she not see it earlier?

“You…” She let out quietly, the man gave a very genuine looking expression of confusion, the barmaid scowled, she in no way appreciated the interruption.

“I’m sorry miss I don’t believe we’ve met.” He said calmly, still keeping his trademark smile.

“Can I get anything for you?” Said the barmaid.

“Um, yeah, cran and vodka, thanks.” Said Natalie waving the woman off, she wasn’t important at the moment.

“I was talking to the gentleman.” She said shooting dagger at Natalie.

“Oh you’re sweet Jess, another beer will do nicely.” Said the man with a wink, the barmaid smiled and went off, reluctantly servicing the 4 other waiting patrons.

“What are you doing here?” Asked Natalie slapping the agent’s arm, the man merely smiled and took a swig from his pint.

“Well until you came along I was enjoying a beer, talking to a very lovely young lady and generally having a good time.” Said the man, his smile seemed everlasting, almost as though Natalie always amused him.

“You know what I mean! If you’re somewhere that means, there’s an alien there too.” Said Natalie in a hushed tone.

“Ms. Jackson, look around, what do you see?” Asked the man, Natalie was slightly taken aback that he knew her last name but did as he said. She saw people, drinks, tables, nothing out of the ordinary.

“Nothing, just patrons and furniture.” Said Natalie looking back at the man, his eyes were entrancing.

“Look again.” Said the man grasping her hand gently and pressing a button on what looked like a phone. Natalie looked once more and gasped, every 4th or 5th patron was definitely not human, some had antennae, some were green, others were blue, a few weren’t even humanoid, having 4, 6, 8, even 10 limbs. She looked to the man and saw his reassuring smile, despite her shock she didn’t pull her hand away.

“What is this?” Asked Natalie stunned.

“Reality, the world around you but minus the Phantom Filter put around every registered ET. These people are the same people as you, they too wanna live their life, fall in love, have a drink, sleep in, enjoy their existence.” Said the man plainly, he seemed truly accustomed to this. Finally, he let go, and once more she was looking at drunken bar patrons celebrating the warm Friday night.

“Why did you show me that?” Asked Natalie as the barmaid planted a new pint in front of the agent.

"To show you that it doesn’t matter where I am, there’s an alien around at all times.” Said the man taking yet another swig from his mug, finishing it and pulling the second one closer.

“Yeah but isn’t all this classified?” Asked Natalie surveying the bar again and again trying to see what the agent showed.

“Oh please, class D personnel get to see that a bunch of times.” Said the man with a calm dismissive wave of his hand.

“Class D?” Asked Natalie now blinking as hard as she could to see once more what he showed her.

“Class D personnel; all personnel directly involved in a murder or trafficking case holding no consequential evidence.” Said the man, rattling it off as if he had swallowed a textbook.

“How do you keep track of this crap?” Asked Natalie.

‘What crap?” Asked the agent taking another swig.

“The law crap, all those laws and articles and class D and stuff.” Said Natalie, the man chuckled.

“I’m a class 9 agent, all class 9 agents need a minimum of 160 IQ.” Said the agent calmly.

“You’re joking right? You scored over 160?” Asked Natalie clearly stunned.

“165, I was hungover on the day of the test.” Said the agent as though getting such a result was something to be ashamed of.

Before Natalie could point out the impressive nature of such a result 4 hooded figures approached the pair. They stopped, starring at Natalie and the agent.

“Gentlemen.” Said the agent giving the figures a slight nod, cautiously fingering the display of his silver watch.

“We require the 9th.” They all said in eerie unison. Natalie was ready to run but was reassured by the agent’s presence.

“9th what? 9th Avenue? 9th item on the grill menu? Which by the way, let me tell you is not as fresh as the photo would have you believe.” Said the agent calmly sipping his drink.

“Do not joke, we require the 9th, we can sense her, where is she?” They asked not breaking the unison, their voices were deep and heavy. The agent now turned around fully and slapped his wristwatch, transforming it into the weapon of deadly light.

“Now gentlemen, I think I know what you’re referring to and you’re chasing a legend, there is no 9th, The Beast of Kunchari killed all 8, the 9th is a myth made by hopeful church goers.” He said starring down the men, Natalie started to leave but the agent gently placed his hand on hers before she could stand. Immediately she saw the men for what they were, there were no hoods on them, each of them was a snow white, bald man with almost non-existent features save for terrible red eyes. How could the agent see this and not panic? Thought Natalie.

“The 9th calls to us, she slumbers, the agency will return her to us, deny us and face consequences.” They said again reaching into their robes, something was ominous about this gesture.

“We do not have what doesn’t exist, but what we do have is an organisation full of capable men like myself that will do everything to keep the peace, we have no record of the 9th, she doesn’t exist. But you will definitely face the full extent of the law should you overstep it.” Said the man in his trademark tone, Natalie was even calmed by his confidence.

“You have 7 days, bring us the 9th or the world burns.” They said again in unison and left.

“What the hell were those?” Asked Natalie.

“Kuncharan priests, guardians of the Immortal Sisters and thanks to some political shifts, leaders of the entire Kuncharan battle fleet.” Said the agent.

“What do we do?” Asked Natalie.

“I’m going to local high command and you are coming with me.” Said the agent standing up and putting on his coat.

“Wait, what?” Asked Natalie slowly standing up herself.

“Get your stuff Ms. Jackson, I think it’s time you met my boss.” Said the agent slamming a 50 down on the bar top.


	3. Treasured Memories

Natalie wished this had happened on a colder night. The almost perfectly body temperature city air made her feel like she had just crawled out of a deep slumber, only half lucid. The agent walking beside her was as sturdy and swift paced as ever.

The city seemed foreign to her, she kept thinking she saw blue antlers or purple wings on passers by but when she looked again she was greeted by normal, human night dwellers. At last the agent stopped, Natalie stopped beside him, the agent had his hands in his pockets and was looking up at a very obvious and even slightly impressive office building, it stood at least 20 stories tall, made of steel and glass, on its topmost level in very obvious blue letters was the sign _PDA._ Natalie could not recall seeing the building even though she must have walked by it countless times. The agent seemed to be admiring it, but why he was doing so Natalie couldn’t fathom, he worked there he must have seen it countless times. Finally, he spoke.

“I’m always amazed at the human superpower of forget.” Said the agent, _this seems like a very random and nonsensical thing to say under the circumstances_ thought Natalie. After a few more seconds the agent took in a breath and started heading to the door. Natalie quickly followed after him, she had almost no idea why she was still going where he led her but it was almost as though she was… compelled to.

The inside of the building was surprisingly mundane, a simple desk clerk dressed in a boring blue suit ushered them in and they walked through a drab, red carpeted lobby to a sliding door, aluminium elevator. They stepped inside and the agent spoke.

“Agent 933, carrying one member of Class D personnel that may be a Scenario 34B, requesting to see Agent 1.” He said calmly, immediately the elevator lurched downward but after a few floors the elevator moved to the left, to the right, right again and finally came to a rest. Natalie looked to the agent, he gave her a reassuring smile and winked.

“Cool huh?” He said clearly pertaining to the elevator’s movement. Natalie looked at the door nervously, the man beside her was easily the most confident, knowledgeable and most frightening man she had ever met, she almost dreaded to see his boss.  

The doors slid opened and Natalie saw…

A little girl?

Natalie was confused, she expected to see a large, ominous, dark suited figure or at the very least an adult. She looked to the agent but he simply nodded respectfully at the girl.

“Agent 933, I hear you successfully handled the Immortal 8 killer, well done.” Said the girl calmly placing her long, blonde hair behind her head. Natalie laughed openly, the agent and the girl turned sharply to her.

“I’m sorry it’s just, come on, you can’t be serious, how old are you?” Asked Natalie her smile slowly melting realising that they were indeed serious.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to ask a lady her age?” Asked the girl, with an annoyed sigh she pressed a point on her arm and within seconds appeared to be the same girl but grown several decades, late 40s at the very least. Natalie was now red faced with embarrassment.

“Ma’am, this is the Scenario 34B I reported.” Said the agent speaking to the lady, she nodded and turned to Natalie.

“You may leave, Agent 933 and I will discuss your case, feel free to walk around the facility, we’ll call you when we need you.” Said the lady directing her dismissively to the glass door to the left of the elevator. Natalie took this as a kinder version of _Fuck off dear_ so she nodded and left the room.

Soon as the door swung shut behind her and she looked up her breath was stolen out of her lungs.

There was so much life going on around her, men and women in suits roamed around in between crowds of all kinds of non-human life. Some of the species even flew around on personal jet wings.

It was so… Magnificent.

Natalie slowly found her feet being able to move again. She slowly roamed the large, terminal like space. It seemed impossible that she had walked right on top of such vibrant life and movement. For once the sight of all these new species didn’t scare her but fascinated her. Many of them regarded her, showing no intent to hurt her, she realized these weren’t monsters or murderers but simply people seeking haven in a new world.

She walked, careful not to bump into anyone. She turned corner after corner and walked corridor after corridor, not heading anywhere in particular until her leg hit something.

_Thump!_

She looked down and saw a small, silver robot with pincer arms and tank treads for legs, it’s mechanical eyes stared Natalie down almost accusingly.

“ **It appears as though your leg had impacted my central corpus, recommendation; watch your step.”** Said the robot with a flat tone.

“I’m sorry I guess I didn’t see you.” Said Natalie.

“ **It appears as though you are incapable of seeing blocky silver objects a few feet in front of your visual receptors, recommendation; get vision correction lenses.”** Said the robot, Natalie began to feel the machine was insulting her.

“My vision is fine, maybe you should check yours.” Said Natalie irritated.

“ **My vision is capable of seeing all wavelengths of radiation, including the ones in the visible spectrum with complete clarity with a range of 200.54 miles. Recommendation; watch who you sass.”** Said the robot, still in perfect monotone, now Natalie was truly annoyed.

“Did you just tell me what to do?” Said Natalie very tempted to kick the little rover.

“ **It appears as though you are having difficulty detecting the obvious, recommendation; resume primary education.”** Said the robot, not once changing his blocky, level tone.

“You did not just tell me to go back to primary school, rusty!” Said Natalie completely fed up, she was surprised that nobody had entered the corridor.

“ **It appears as though you are having difficulty understanding me, recommendation; open your hearing receptors.”** Said the robot, Natalie had just had about enough of the silver sass machine.

“I swear I will stomp your beady robot eyes out of your stupid head!” Said Natalie, she was truly tempted to do so.

“ **It appears as though those outdated footwear models are too cheap to withstand strong impact, recommendation; seek footwear in locations other than thrift shops.”** Said the robot, just when Natalie was ready to put some dents into it’s corpus a man walked around the corner.

The man wore simple, black rectangular glasses and a plaid shirt with jeans, he looked like a normal office worker.

“Service bot 55 Beta, reduce attitude to %5.” Said the man, immediately the robot whirred and turned into a solid silver cube with only the eyes protruding, it looked almost cute.

“Sorry about him, us IT guys get bored so we decided to reprogram the service bots.” Said the man, he sounded perpetually sad and tired.

“He… it… insulted my….” Said Natalie, fuming.

“Again, sorry, they can be really cute too, here, pet him.” Said the IT guy, Natalie was almost sure he was messing with her.

“You want me to pet the robot?” Asked Natalie giving him a _you can’t be serious_ look.

“Just try it.” Said the IT guy, Natalie was almost sure he was insane, but she saw no harm in it and pet the robot’s protruding, binocular like eyes. The robot began whirring and pushing against her hand, after a second of surprise she realised that the robot was nuzzling her. After a few more seconds a red hologram of text shoots out of the robot’s body.

It read; **_< 3_**

Despite her trying to stay mad she did indeed find the robot now slightly adorable. She was about to speak again to the man in the flannel but she heard something come from the PA.

“Natalie Jackson please return to Agent 1’s office.” Said the voice of Agent 1. Natalie thanked the man for dealing with the robot and gave it one last pet before re-tracing her steps to the office. When she entered the agent in the black coat was standing in front of the desk and Agent 1 was fixed in her chair as always.

“Natalie, sit down.” Said the agent in the black coat, for once he seemed almost sad.

“What’s this about? Can any of you finally tell me why I’m here?” Asked Natalie taking a seat opposite the lady.

“Ms. Jackson there’s no easy way to say this so I’ll be blunt, you aren’t human, your parents are-…were, interplanetary drug lords and most of your younger life is fiction and due to your repressed knowledge about your parent’s syndicate we’re sending you into orbit to our interrogation facility.” Said the lady not even flinching, she was indeed not kidding about being blunt.

“No there’s some mistake, I can remember my younger life, I’m human.” Said Natalie frantically looking from the lady to the saddened agent behind her for signs of a joke, there was none.

“Natalie, what colour was your childhood bedroom?” Asked the agent behind her in a gentle voice. Natalie’s brow furrowed.

“What was the name of your first high school crush?” Asked the agent, she was now starting to panic.

“How did your parents die?” Asked the agent, this Natalie knew.

“A car crash, I remember it vividly!” She exclaimed, relieved she remembered something.

“What was the make of car?” Asked the agent.

“What?” Asked Natalie confused.

“The make of your parent’s car, the one they died in, what kind of car was it?” Asked the agent, Natalie was close to tears.

“I can’t… I don’t…. I don’t remember.” Said Natalie, her eyes welled with tears, she tried desperately to remember something, anything about her parents but nothing was clear until they died.

“Ms. Jackson, everyone who enters this facility is scanned, your genetic code was flagged that of the infamous Astras Drug Lords from Telnizia, which was impossible, they died resisting arrest over a decade ago. The agent here and I have been reviewing your history and the forgery is plain as day until your grade 9 year, right when your parents met their demise. You were subject to a cheap, illegal memory wipe and replantation, it wasn’t done properly so your memories are sub-par.” Said the lady, her tone was the same, there wasn’t a shred of pity or sadness or empathy to latch onto.

“But I look human…” Said Natalie, hoping against hope that the point would make everything said in the room become unsaid.

“So do 24 other recorded species, the conditions for life are very finite, there can only be so much diversity.” Said the agent behind her, his voice was gentle, almost kind.

“So then what now?” Asked Natalie, she sounded crushed.

“Take this, your real memories will start coming back, and follow me.” Said the agent holding out his hand, inside it was a simple, white capsule, numbly Natalie took it and ate it.

She stood up and the agent led her back to the elevator. He was walking slower now and his smile looked sad, almost like he put it on for her sake.

“Are you alright?” Asked Natalie, the agent laughed lightly.

“Your entire world is coming crashing down around you and you’re asking me if I’m alright.” Said the agent chuckling.

“Well are you?” Asked Natalie, not entirely sure why she cared about the man’s well being.

“Yes, it’s just… Don’t think you’re the only one to have a memory wipe done on them.” Said the agent looking down, his sad smile still on his face. As the elevator started its ascent Natalie realized the smile wasn’t one of pity.

It was one of empathy.

Finally, they reached the elevator’s destination. The doors opened to reveal the rooftop of the building. 

“Well? Where’s the space shuttle or whatever?” Asked Natalie, the agent laughed and grabbed her arm lightly.

“What century do you live in?” Asked the agent, with that he clicked the crown on his watch and within the blink of an eye the rooftop was gone.

Suddenly they were in a sterile, metal and plastic room, the agent walked over and fiddled with some controls. Natalie walked over to the porthole and gasped, she was looking at a magnificent, blue planet, Earth.

Nothing could quite describe the sense of awe Natalie felt, to think she considered the move across a state border a long distance. The beautiful, vibrant world beneath her, so full of life and diversity almost made her forget all her problems.

“No… No that can’t be right…” Said the agent from his controls, with difficulty Natalie pried her eyes away and turned to the agent looking at a screen.

“What’s wrong?” Asked Natalie curiously.

“The… the Earth it’s not moving; it’s not spinning it’s not even moving in it’s orbit… This is Kuncharan war tech.” Said the agent mostly to himself.

“Kuncharan? Like the priests? Why would they need to stop the earth?” Asked Natalie, the agent was frantically reaching for every button on the screen at once, for once he looked truly lost.

“How do you think a space fleet works? Big explosions? Laser beams? A little gray alien asking to be taken to the leader?” Asked the agent, he almost sounded annoyed with Natalie’s lack of knowledge on the subject as he rushed from screen to screen.

“Um… Yes?” Asked Natalie hopefully, slowly freaking out herself.

“No, stop the all the planet’s functions, even the Earth, it’s orbit and spin, even all the living beings on it’s surface or in orbit in time of the first signal will be placed in stasis. They don’t move, they don’t breathe, they don’t decompose, at least that’s how all civilised species wage war.” Said the agent between shuttle runs from lever to lever.

“And then what? Doesn’t sound very deadly…” Said Natalie feeling genuinely scared.

“It’s not, this is a warning shot, we were in transit when they pressed the button so we were safe. When our 7-day timer runs out they use all that built up kinetic energy to launch the planet on a non-stop course towards the sun, keeping the living beings in stasis until it’s too late to turn back. They restart life long enough for everyone to realise how inevitable their deaths will be.” Said the agent finally giving up with the levers.

“So what do we do? We can’t just float here!” Said Natalie, the agent looked down at the floor of the capsule for a minute before his usual smile returned.

“7 days to find a mythical being, bring her to a mystical warrior order and stop the Earth being shot at the sun. No backup, no plan and one daughter of the most renown drug lords in the galaxy…” Said the agent, his smile seemed inappropriate under such pitiful circumstances.

“What are you saying?” Asked Natalie, the agent stepped to the front of the room, there were two simple chairs with straps, he began securing himself in one.

“I though it was obvious, I’m going to find the 9th, bring her to the order and stop the Earth frying.” Said the agent.

“And you’re gonna help me.” He finished with a wide smile.


End file.
